Former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted has opened up about his throat cancer diagnosis and the severe depression that followed, revealing the depth of the mental toll even as he now tours cancer-free with his band, The Chophouse Band.
Newsted, 63, said the illness first announced itself through symptoms he initially dismissed — persistent earaches and a sore jaw — before he discovered a lump in his neck that prompted him to seek medical evaluation. The diagnosis led to surgery in 2025 that removed his tonsils, lymph nodes and surrounding tissue. He was declared cancer-free earlier this year, roughly a year after the procedure.
The physical recovery, Newsted said, was compounded by a mental health crisis he didn't anticipate. "The depression, the level of depression was so severe," he said. "A couple of times... like, 'Dude, fuck this.'" He credited swimming, cycling, music and staying socially connected with pulling him through the darkest stretches of recovery.
Newsted has since channeled that recovery into his first North American headlining run with The Chophouse Band, an 18-date tour that began July 1 and closes with two nights at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. He described the tour as central to his sense of purpose following the diagnosis, framing performing again as a way of reconnecting with audiences and reclaiming a feeling of being fully alive.
Newsted played bass in METALLICA from 1986 to 2001, joining shortly after the death of Cliff Burton and appearing on albums including "...And Justice For All," "Metallica" (The Black Album) and "Load." Since leaving METALLICA, he has remained active across various projects, including his own band NEWSTED and visual art pursuits, while remaining a respected figure among metal's bass community.
His candor about the mental health dimension of cancer recovery adds a rare, unfiltered account from a musician whose public persona has long centered on resilience — a perspective now shaped as much by survival as by decades on some of metal's biggest stages.